Whitefish Bay's Lily Hayes wins 5 medals

Wisconsin Rapids — Lily Hayes better start making some more room in her trophy case.

The Whitefish Bay senior already has won state medals in tennis and pole vault. On Saturday, the multi-talented athlete won five medals at the WIAA Division 2 state individual gymnastics meet, including gold in the uneven bars and the all-around.

"I don't think I could have written the ending any better," said Hayes, who plans to compete in the pole vault at Brown University. "It is so exciting to finish on such a high note. I told myself that I made all my mistakes last night and I needed to go out and hit everything today."

Hayes, a former club gymnast who joined the high school team this year, was just part of a treasure trove collected by the Blue Dukes, who won the Division 2 team championship Friday night. Freshman Aly Yurkowitz placed fourth in the all-around, won the floor exercise, finished fifth on the uneven bars and was sixth on the vault. Sophomore Mary Claire Potter was sixth in the all-around and the uneven bars, and fifth on the floor.

In Division 1, Arrowhead junior Jorin Fredman won the all-around, just ahead of Burlington Co-op junior Molly Benavides. Fredman survived a close race among four gymnasts that came down to the final event.

Hayes also won her all-around championship on her final event, the balance beam. She and Grantsburg Combined sophomore Jessee Lerud were locked in a close battle. Lerud finished the day with a 37.268 and Hayes needed at least a 9.185 on the beam to win the all-around.

"I just told myself that this is something I had done a thousand times," Hayes said. "I just wanted to get to the landing."

She scored a 9.217, good enough for second place, and finished with a 37.301. The finish was better than the beginning for Hayes. She scored a curiously low 9.267 on her first event, the floor exercise.

"Things didn't start out so well on the floor, so I knew that I would have to hit everything after that," Hayes said. "I thought it was a solid routine. I was frustrated with the score, but the score is the score. I tried to use it as fuel to motivate me the rest of the meet."

Hayes went on to score a 9.25 on vault, good for fifth place, and a gold-winning 9.566 on uneven bars.

On the Division 1 uneven bars, Fredman scored a clutch 9.567 to win the all-around. Going into the fifth and final rotation, the all-around was up for grabs among Fredman, Benavides, Franklin sophomore Sam Balcerak and Middleton senior Aryn Skibba.

"There was a lot of pressure going into that last event, but I tried to stay as calm and relaxed as I could," said Fredman, a former club gymnast in her first year on the high school team. "My first and primary goal this year was to win team state. We didn't get that done, but my second goal was to win the all-around."

Fredman won it by finishing second on vault, third on bars and fourth on the floor. She became the first Arrowhead gymnast to win the all-around title, said coach Bob Pulkowski.

"That's exciting for us," Pulkowksi said. "We knew she was having a really good meet when she finished on beam. I wasn't worried about her going into the last event. She is a real tough kid. Nothing fazes her. She goes out and gets the job done."

Also for Arrowhead, senior Rachel Bartelson finished second on the vault and sixth on the bars.

Benavides, who helped Burlington finish a close second at Friday's team meet, won the gold medal on the vault for the second straight year and won the balance beam for the second time in three years. She also placed third in the floor exercise.

"I tried not to think about the team meet," Benavides said. "We came in thinking about what we can do and not what we could have done. We just tried to relax and have the best meet we could."

Burlington senior Jenna Fitzpatrick finished fifth in the all-around, tied for first on the uneven bars along with Brookfield Central/East sophomore Amanda Pennow, and was fifth on the beam. Her sister, junior Bailey, placed fourth on the uneven bars. Bailey was the two-time defending all-around champion but tore two ligaments in her left knee at sectionals and was hampered during the two days of state meets.

For Franklin, which won its fourth straight state team championship Friday, Balcerak was fourth in the all-around, won the gold in the floor exercise and was third on the beam.

Menomonee Falls/Germantown senior Julie Ducsay, another club gymnast who joined her high school team this year, placed fifth on the bars, while West Bend West senior Bailey Wagner was fifth on vault. Mukwonago/Kettle Moraine sophomore Brooke Kangas and Grafton/Cedarburg senior Catie Ball tied for fifth on the floor exercise.